Secrets to finding love online released on the busiest day of the year for dating websites

Around 1 million people were expected to register to a dating site the day after New Year's Day

(Rex Features)

Finding oneself with no one to kiss when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve often leads people to add finding a partner to their list of New Year’s resolutions.

With the Bank Holiday revelries done with, 1 million people in the UK were expected to log onto a dating website on Thursday in an attempt to find love.

Now, a guide to the ideal online dating profile has been designed to help on the busiest day of the year for the UK’s dating industry.

A study of more than 4,000 online daters has revealed the attributes that dating site users are most attracted to, with different results for men and women.

Findings include how profiles with full-body photos will see a person receive three times more messages, while women who take photos inside get 60 per cent more messages, while men get 10 per cent more if their pictures show them outside.

The style of the photo is important too, as men posting selfies will suffer by receiving eight per cent fewer messages. But women will get four per cent more.

While a pet might be precious to its owner, posing with animals reduces a user’s popularity by half. Having best friends is not seen as attractive either, as posing with them can reduce popularity by 42 per cent.

Research by Zoosk also shows that when men were honest about being divorcees or separated they saw a 52 per cent boost in messages, with profiles including the words “son” or “daughter” giving a seven per cent boost.

However, when women used the same words to speak about their children, their popularity was damaged by the same percentage it helped men.

The study also showed that less is more, as profiles with 100 to 200 word descriptions of the person received 10 per cent more messages when compared to long-winded posts.

In fact, it seems quality is more important than quantity, with mentions of reading and exercise garnering 21 per cent more messages for men and women, while being musical achieved a 15 per cent spike.

Spelling and grammar is also important, as text-speak and mistakes make both sexes 13 per cent less attractive.

Even emoticon use can effect a person’s chances, with :-) giving a 13 per cent boost in messages, while :) sees a 66 per cent dip in replies.